Gospel according to Saint Luke 13:22-30:
Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from. And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’ And there will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out. And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God. For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Eternal moments
Luis CASASUS President of the Idente Missionaries
Rome, August 24, 2025 | XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 66: 18-21; Heb 12: 5-7.11-13; Lk 13: 22-30
In Ecclesiastes, a book of the Old Testament (3:11), we read: God has made everything beautiful in its time, and he has put the notion of eternity into the human mind, even though man cannot comprehend the work that God does from beginning to end.
But the reality that surrounds us tells us that the person who was beside us yesterday disappears forever, that our energy fades away little by little or suddenly… That is why we can understand why an anonymous listener asked Jesus that question: Are few there who are saved? Even though the meaning of “saved” is not perfectly defined.
Every age, every culture, every person has a similar question, which has been answered in different ways, but even when it is understood as a wonderful reward, or a “happy ending” at the end of earthly life, we are not satisfied. Of course, Christ is NOT referring to any of that. In truth, we need to savor eternity right now, and these are not just sentimental or fanciful words. Too many people strive to cultivate some beautiful ideal: passing an exam, starting a family, getting a job. These are beautiful goals, but they are immediate, and in themselves they will never be enough, because once they are achieved, we will always ask ourselves, Now what?
In our lack of fulfillment, we will always blame someone else or unfavorable circumstances. As a young religious man, whose perseverance is more than uncertain, said to me: I do not feel valued in what I am doing.
A few days ago, Pope Leo recalled Christ’s advice that we should make a good investment with all that we have received (Lk 12:33-34), which paradoxically means letting go of it and giving it to those in need, thus obtaining an inexhaustible treasure in heaven. We know well that only Jesus Christ can tell us at every moment how to give our abilities, our time, our affection, our presence, our empathy, as the Pope summarized.
Salvation is repeatedly announced by the Master, who knows our obsession with finding a wide and comfortable door that will leave us with a clear conscience for having eaten and drunk with Him and for having proclaimed His message in the squares.
Again and again, He begs us to understand the resurrection and salvation in a new way. We remember Martha when Jesus says to her: Your brother will rise again.
She replies, with some anger: But what a discovery! My brother was a righteous man… of course he will rise from the dead.
But Jesus’ response is what he conveys to us today through Saint Luke: This is not the resurrection that I have brought to the world; it is not a return to this life, but the manifestation of eternal life that I have brought to the world and given to all the children of God.
Of course, the wicked, the ungodly, would not be admitted to this salvation; we remember the mother of the seven sons of Maccabeus, who, after encouraging each of her sons not to give in to Antiochus’ proposals, turned courageously to the ruler and said to him: You, wicked man, will not share in the resurrection of the righteous; you will not be saved.
Let us not be hasty in judging those who ask Jesus how many will be saved or when his final coming will be. The truth is that every human being seeks someone who, through words and deeds, will give an answer to their thirst for eternity, whether they call themselves an atheist or a believer.
A clear sign of living eternal life in advance is the freedom that Christ lived in the midst of the most varied and bitter adversities. Another example is the way the martyrs gave their lives, or the confession of a weakened and aging Saint Paul, who was nevertheless happy: I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time of my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2 Tim 4:6-7). A common characteristic is the awareness of the fruitfulness of this surrender, of the reality of an imperishable fruit that will bring joy in heaven and remain as an example to follow on earth. This is the language of the Beatitudes. Becoming poor in spirit, becoming merciful, becoming meek, becoming pure of heart, with the help of grace, is to open one’s heart to the experience of a full and inexhaustible joy.
It is easy to talk about the value of suffering, but suffering is debilitating. Only those who are prepared to accept it will be able to transform it into witness and strength for those around them.
A story comes to mind to illustrate this truth.
In the heart of a future Rome, where the arches of the Colosseum were reflected in glass skyscrapers and silent transport vehicles crisscrossed the skies, lived Livia. She was a “Curator of Futures,” one of the most prestigious professionals of her time.
Her job was to design and optimize people’s lives, planning every step from their professional career to their emotional life and even their vacations, always ensuring maximum success and happiness… for tomorrow. Her own life was her best advertisement: a perfect schedule, a relentless path toward ever-higher goals. She was always on the verge of achieving true peace… just after the next project, just after the next acquisition.
He lived in perpetual anticipation of happiness. However, in the forced silences between one task and the next, he felt an immense emptiness, an echo in an exquisitely decorated but uninhabited room.
One day, while researching for a client, he came across an obscure reference to a forgotten place in Trastevere, known as the “Garden of the Moment.” Legend had it that a single flower grew there, the Rosa Aeterna, which did not bloom according to the seasons, but only at the precise moment when someone observed it without longing for the past or planning for the future. Its scent was said to be not a perfume, but an experience: a sip of eternity.
The pragmatic and skeptical Livia saw it as the ultimate challenge.
The garden was an anachronism: a small corner of chaos and wild greenery hidden among smart buildings. In the center, on a moss-covered stone pedestal, stood a rose bush with a single closed bud, pale and undefined in color. The caretaker was a retired neighbor whose eyes seemed to contain the same peace that Livia sought to plan.
The amateur gardener was watering some pots with exasperating slowness. He put down the watering can and looked at Livia with a kind smile: Look at that bud and imagine everything that is going on in that heart made of petals, think of everything that is there and we cannot see.
Livia felt defeated; she canceled her next appointment. She turned off her watch and put away her communication device. She sat down on a stone bench and began to notice the buzzing of a lone bee, the play of the evening light on a leaf, the sound of a distant fountain she had never heard before. She felt the coolness of the stone beneath her hands and the scent of damp earth. And, above all, she felt the presence of that anonymous gardener. She asked him his name, wanted to know about his family, his health, his story… She did not see him as one of her clients.
The Rosa Aeterna bloomed. From then on, Livia found the scent of eternity in the most unexpected moments, especially in the face of every human being. Eternity was not an infinite timeline, but the moment we now have to discover the gift we have to give to someone and… that will last forever.
—ooOoo—
The First Reading declares: And from among them I will choose priests and Levites, says the Lord. This is the most radical statement in the entire passage. In Judaism, the priesthood was strictly limited to the tribe of Levi and the descendants of Aaron. Here, God announces that he will take priests and Levites “from among them,” referring to the converted Gentiles who are coming from all nations.
This means the abolition of ethnic and hereditary barriers to sacred service. A new priesthood is established based not on blood, but on God’s call within the new universal community. It is the ultimate sign of forgiveness, so that human beings, Jew or Gentile, may truly feel redeemed: You will share in my mission.
If we, who have had the privilege of knowing Christ, especially since Baptism, do not believe that we are missionary disciples, as Pope Francis said, it is because we have not recognized and given thanks for all the forgiveness we have received, directly from God or through human beings. Let us not be ungrateful, lest we be among the first to be last, as today’s Gospel concludes.
In recent Sundays, we have heard Christ speak of the kingdom and eternal life, but he does so on his way to Jerusalem; he is therefore speaking from experience, knowing that his final destination is Jerusalem and not surprised by the difficulties and opposition he encounters.
Today, to top it all off, we hear in the Second Reading the exhortation not to reject correction and rebuke, which reminds us that there are countless obstacles and distractions that make impossible the joy that eternity promises to those who one day set out on the path following Christ.
Once we know that our goal is to be one with our Father, life becomes an exciting march toward that end. We make the necessary preparations, follow the map, and stay on course amid the storms that overwhelm us, and above all, the intimate violence demanded by the kingdom of heaven, but these do not surprise those who live in a state of prayer.
In the ascetic tradition of the Church, the three enemies of the soul are wisely pointed out: the world, the devil, and the flesh. At times, their action is so subtle and perverse that they could also be called “the three (sinister) friends of the soul,” for they convince us by many means that Christ’s teaching is exaggerated, that love does not always have to be demanding, that my neighbor is not so eager to receive my humble witness, that my faults and quirks are not apparent to others, as some religious people say with conviction. Two Sundays ago, precisely, Jesus urged us not to wait, not to cease being attentive, for the master of the house will come unexpectedly, not to deceive us, but because we are caught unawares by our slumber, our spiritual laziness.
As Psalm 6 says, those who do things based only on their own opinions, energy, and abilities, even if they can be called “good deeds,” will be rejected (note that it does not say ‘condemned’): Depart from me, all you who do foolish things.
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In the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
Luis CASASUS
President
